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Welcome to my first movie review—Avengers: Endgame!
P/S two anxieties in 10 words or less: first movie review and reviewing the biggest movie of history. Regardless, since I've picked up this mantle—game on!
A brief background story: Endgame is the fourth installation of the MCU Avengers saga. Infinity War revolves around the mega-villain from space, Thanos, gathering six mystical stones (Infinity Stones) of extreme power to annihilate half of the entire universe’s population.
Our favourite superheroes failed to stop Thanos from collecting the six stones, resulting in 50% annihilation—including the some of the superheroes themselves! As an immediate continuation from Infinity War, Endgame is about undoing Thanos’ annihilation.
There are three acts in Avengers: Endgame. Act I focussed on the remaining superheroes’ responses, because not everyone moved on positively. Beneath the shabby shed of despair, one of the superheroes was ratted out with a solution—which leads us to Act II.
Act II is about undoing Thanos’ massacre. Here, the superheroes pulled a Barry Allen to assemble the Infinity Stones before Thanos collected them himself.
Act III, of course, the finale of Endgame—the final epic battle of superheroes and supervillains.
The overall pace of Endgame’s Act I is a tad bit lengthy—almost “all talk no action” in my opinion. Some “humorous” scenes are evidently a disease in guise of cure—so no, they aren’t selfie-worthy. Taco bout regular-sized slapstick comedy.
Thankfully, the pace slowly picks up in Act II where all scenes tied to the main story arc well.
Travelling back in time brings you all the nostalgia that blockbuster franchise was apparently really terrible at.
Here, we were given the opportunity to reminisce through the blinds of emotions: the people whom our superheroes had lost, the moments that our superheroes missed—and the moments before our superheroes lost the people they missed. Their future (although current for us) has not been kind to them, so they deserve a hug, even if this gesture is highly probably five years decades too early.
P/S There's a farewell scene that is too soon and very unexpected. And I'm still not okay :(
I give Act II a huge bonus point for exceeding the typical expectations of a blockbuster movie—an interesting mash up of emotions and actions!
The movie finally achieved its balance in Act III, its climax: the final battle. Everyone is there—everyone. It cannot get any more than that.
No one is overshadowed; everyone contributed to the final battle, no matter how brief their screen time is. Most importantly, this ultimate battle is not overwhelming. Huge kudos for the Russo brothers!
It is also at this epilogue where Endgame truly snapped strikes a chord—a tribute to the original six Avengers.
Indeed, the Russos built up the entire Act II and III as a noble tribute to the original six—a fitting theme to Endgame as a farewell to the Avengers saga.
Now, a farewell is not done right unless you pay homage to their previous movies. The memorable scenes and famous one-liners of the previous movies also had their cameo in Endgame! To understand the insider jokes, I’ll recommend a pre-Endgame movie marathon—just to be sure nothing is (on your) left!
The most creative and clever way of paying tribute is by making fans’ wishes, alternate universes (AUs), favourites and mockumentaries to deliver their story—all without straying from the main story arc. Looks like the storytelling undoubtedly went for the head, hey?
A meaningful story is also when you can see character growth, particularly Captain America. Captain America taught me (us) a lot about growing up: being matured; being wiser.
Never be afraid of fighting yourself, regardless of how righteous naïve ridiculous hard it is. There are situations where you cannot do this all day, therefore learn from your past/future experiences. Improvise when you know things are leading to lift-tight fights—talk your way out, even if it’s a mere whisper at one’s ear. Last but not least, always remind yourself that someone you cared a lot is still alive: because you are always worthy even if your defensive shield is broken.
P/S thumbs up if you can catch all the easter eggs in the paragraph above!
However!!!
I dislike what they’ve done with Thor’s character, turning him into a fat joke. Sure, Thor: Ragnarok is all humour, but at least the movie stayed true to Thor’s strength and finally amplified it during his gladiator fight and final sibling fight.
On the whole, Avengers: Endgame is a highly commendable movie. I love the time travel moments, the finale, the tribute to original six. Love the sentiments, the action, the creativity and story telling. The suspense, the finally-worthy wield, the final snap—
The final sacrifice.
Still. Love them all 3000 times!
Avengers Assemble!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the media displayed. Copyright to their respective owner. All media are created and/or sourced from pixabay.com and imgflip.com. Kindly contact me should you wish to remove any of the media.
Cover image information:
"Thanos" by IJRO at pixabay.com
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